B'nai Jeshurun (Manhattan)
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B'nai Jeshurun is a
non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. The term has been used in the context of various faiths, including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoro ...
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
located at 257 West 88th Street and 270 West 89th Street, on the
Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...
of
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
, in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, New York, United States. The synagogue building was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in June 1989.


History

Founded in 1825, Bnai Jeshurun was the second synagogue founded in New York and the third-oldest
Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...
synagogue in the United States. The synagogue was founded by a coalition of young members of
Congregation Shearith Israel The Congregation Shearith Israel (), often called The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 2 West 70th Street, at Central Park West, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, Unit ...
, immigrants, and the descendants of immigrants from the German and Polish lands. It was the stated intention to follow the "German and Polish ''minhag'' (rite)." The order of prayers followed that of the Ashkenazi Great Synagogue of London, and the congregation sought the guidance of the British chief Rabbi Solomon Hirschell on matters of ritual. They first held services on Pearl Street, and dedicated their first building on Elm Street in Manhattan in 1829. The first rabbi, Samuel Myer Isaacs, was appointed in 1839, but a public notice from 1845 indicates that there were disagreements over who should lead B'nai Jeshurun. By 1850, the congregation had grown large enough to make it necessary to build a new synagogue. A building on Greene Street was dedicated on September 25, 1851, and the Jewish newspaper ''Asmonean'' described the edifice and its builders as admirable. Its rabbi in the 1850s and 1860s, when it was frequently called "the Greene Street Synagogue", was Morris Jacob Raphall. By 1852, it had started a Hebrew school open to the entire city's Jews, of all varieties, and by 1854 had opened a separate school building a few doors down Greene Street. B'nai Jeshurun had a cemetery on 32nd Street, which was in use until 1851, when the city banned burials in the area. At that time, they jointly created a cemetery named Beth Olom in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, but continued to maintain the older cemetery. By 1875, the Manhattan cemetery was becoming derelict, and the congregation sold it to developers in 1875, moving those buried there to its new cemetery. The old location is now occupied by the back portion of the
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, approximately where the loading dock and sports club entrance are situated. In 1864, the congregation moved yet again, to a new building on 34th Street, the parcel later became part of the site of the
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...
store. Driven by the rapid expansion of the city, they moved yet again in the spring of 1885 to
Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stree ...
at 65th Street. That building was designed by Rafael Guastavino and Schwarzmann & Buchman. Less than a year later, a fire did extensive damage to the building. Reports rated the damage at $35,000. B'nai Jeshurun was temporarily relocated to Congregation Ahawath Chesed, now Central Synagogue, on
Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street (Manhattan), 131st Street to Gra ...
, which ironically had a fire of its own within the month, leaving both congregations homeless. Henry Jacobs was another long-serving rabbi. He had a 17-year tenure, ending in January 1893. The present building, located at 257 West 88th Street, between Broadway and West End Avenue, was dedicated in 1917. It was designed by Henry B. Herts, a congregant and celebrated theater architect, with Walter S. Schneider. ''See also:'' In addition to its place on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
, the synagogue was included in the New York City Riverside Drive-West End Historic District created in 1990. The muqarna-studded ceiling was redesigned following its collapse during renovations in the early 1990s and was replaced with a future-invoking space frame back-lit to simulate a nighttime sky


Breakaway congregations

B'nai Jeshurun's original founders broke from the city's only synagogue, Shearith Israel, in 1825, in order to create an Ashkenazi congregation. Subsequently, B'nai Jeshurun members broke away to form new synagogues several times. In 1828, at a time of rapid growth in the New York Jewish community, a group left B'nai Jeshurun to found Ansche Chesed. In 1845, Temple Shaaray Tefila was founded by 50 primarily English and Dutch Jews who had been members of B'nai Jeshurun.


Affiliation

B'nai Jeshurun took a leading role in founding the Board of Directors of American Israelites in 1859. By 1874, there were divisions within the congregation over remaining strictly Orthodox or adopting ideas from the Reform movement, and by 1875, it was in litigation, with the Reform movement ultimately winning in court. The Board of Delegates affiliated with the Reform movement's Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1878, but in 1884 it left. Two years later, it also supported the founding of the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism as well as a hub for academic scholarship in Jewish studies ...
(JTS) in 1886, a school formed to support Orthodoxy in combating the Reform movement. In 1870, it worked with the other traditional (non- Reform) synagogues of the city to develop a uniform ''
siddur A siddur ( ''sīddūr'', ; plural siddurim ) is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word comes from the Hebrew root , meaning 'order.' Other terms for prayer books are ''tefillot'' () among Sephardi Jews, ''tef ...
''. In 1889, the congregation published its edition of the prayer book. These activities took place prior to the founding of the Conservative movement, and both versions of the siddur followed Orthodox practice. When Solomon Schechter took over the Jewish Theological Seminary, he used it as a base to create a "conservative" set of reforms to traditional Judaism. B'nai Jeshurun joined his United Synagogue of America, now the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. In the late 1980s, the congregation left the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
movement and became
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
.


Contemporary

A spiritual and demographic renaissance began in 1985, with the arrival of Rabbi Marshall Meyer. At the same time, the congregation introduced musical Shabbat services that drew from both Sephardic and Chassidic musical traditions. A " Stonewall Shabbat Seder" was first held at B'nai Jeshurun in 1995. In 2018, B'nai Jeshurun announced its decision to officiate
interfaith marriage Interfaith marriage, sometimes called interreligious marriage or mixed marriage, is marriage between spouses professing and being legally part of different religions. Although interfaith marriages are often established as civil marriages, in so ...
s if the couple promised to raise their children as Jews, exclusively.


Notable clergy

* Rabbi Samuel Myer Isaacs (1804–1878) * Rabbi Henry S. Jacobs (1876–1893) * Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise (1893–1900) * Rabbi Joseph Mayor Asher (1901–1907) * Rabbi Judah Leon Magnes (1911–1912) * Rabbi Israel Goldstein (1918–1960) * Rabbi William Berkowitz (1950–1984) * Rabbi Marshall Meyer (1985–1993) * Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon (1986–present) * Hazzan Ari Priven (1989–present) * Rabbi Marcelo R. Bronstein (1995–2017) * Rabbi Felicia Sol (2001–present) * Rabbi Rebecca Weintraub (2020–present)


See also

*
Oldest synagogues in the United States Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control Ashkenazi synagogues in the United States Byzantine Revival architecture in New York City Byzantine Revival synagogues German-Jewish culture in New York City Polish-Jewish culture in New York City Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan Synagogues completed in 1917 Synagogues in Manhattan Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City Unaffiliated synagogues in New York City Upper West Side